Wyoming voters fed up with Bush administration.
Wyoming's at-large Congressional district is in play, with Gary Trauner challenging Barbara Cubin. This is one of the most overlooked races in the country, as Cubin won with only 55% of the vote in 2004 despite outspending her opponent 3-1.
But now, things have changed. Trauner has matched Cubin dollar for dollar. This is just one more reason why the Republicans are going down in the next election - Bush is no longer popular even in places like Wyoming. And Trauner is not ashamed to call himself a Democrat, like many Democrats running in heavily red states.
Below are some prime examples of voters and editorial pages fed up with the Bush administration in red-state Wyoming.
Genetically modified corn in Iraq:
Another corrupt side of the Iraq war: Iraq's new patent law for seeds, enacted June 2004, has stripped Iraqi farmers of the right to save their own seeds as they have done for generations. This U.S.-imposed law protects seeds patented by large corporations and which specialize in genetically altered seed.Now that Iraqi farmers have had their seed-saving heritage stolen from them, they will be forced to buy this patented seed every year. As a result, important varieties will go extinct, further eroding this planet's genetic diversity (unless a black market keeps them alive and farmers risk jail time or fines).
Outstanding organizations like Seed Savers Exchange and Seeds of Change ship extra seed overseas every year to help the needy. What is wrong with following and expanding this path?
Giants like Monsanto are chomping at the bit to cash in on opportunities like this -- all this courtesy of the Bush-Cheney brigade, whose arrogance, corruption and money-sucking greed seem to have no limits. Since we now own Iraq's agriculture, invoked through the Colonial Powers Act, in essence this makes them our slaves, forced to buy genetically altered seeds and destroy a seed-saving heritage that goes back to Babylon.In Mexico, genetically altered corn from the U.S. has polluted native varieties that go back thousands of years. President Bush is trying to force the European Union to accept genetically altered foods. In December 2005, Congress ignored organic food farmers by altering rules and definitions of the organic program, thus trying to undermine its integrity. Conventional food companies want to either cash in by marketing organic products that aren't really organic or to try to create mistrust of the organic program.
In 2004, farmers, organic activists and consumers as well as export markets like Japan refused to buy wheat from the U.S. if it introduced Monsanto's Roundup-ready wheat into the growing system. These corporations continue to try to force this highly controversial technology on consumers, mostly without them knowing about it.
This lunacy and disregard for our genetic diversity and consumer health needs to be opposed, and people must educate themselves on what is really going on within our mainstream agribusiness. Greed is the driving force behind all these events.
Bush administration cuts funding for solar power in Wyoming.
Wyoming has been one of the leaders in getting alternative fuels and energy. Yet despite this, a federally funded program that provides solar power to 22 out of 23 counties in Wyoming has been gutted by Bush's Department of Energy. This is a classic example of how the Republicans would take the money out. After all, according to their twisted logic, it would be Wyoming's fault if this program were to go under.
We would put the money in by creating new investment for solar energy for places like Wyoming. Not only would this provide clean energy, it would create new jobs as well and combat the cycle of wage suppression.
Rising gas prices impact library funding in Cody:
Rising construction and fuel costs and ongoing hazards at the current downtown Cody library make it "urgent" to seek funding now, Reetz said.That's because the board, driven by legislative directives, is in the process of rewriting rules to accommodate Wyoming communities impacted by oil and gas development. They must focus on that task and the additional funds they received to deal with it, but they did not want to entirely cut off regular SLIB applicants, Reetz said.
In an April 24 letter to local governments, Lynne Boomgaarden, director of the State Lands and Investments Office, said only limited funding to meet emergency needs would be considered at the June meeting.
FSA State Director Lois Van Mark wants to close the Converse County office to satisfy demands she says are being placed on her from her Washington bosses.
As always, there are many sides to the argument and each side will lose something if they don't get their way. Van Mark will lose face with her bosses if she doesn't close this office and might possibly damage any political or career aspirations for which she may be using this as a stepping stone.
If Converse County loses, locals will have added to their growing list of financial expenditures even more costs involved in accessing the FSA services which were originally put in motion to help them. It is more than just the increasing number of dollars it takes to fill up a gas tank to make the long drive to Casper for services; it is also the time missed from work to make the trip. The inconvenience may be nothing more than just that, but the financial factors hit some harder than others.
Everyone in the Bush Administration who has anything to do with the decision - a very small one the grand scale of things - will be proud to have balanced the budget, made the cuts, pleased their bosses, took the credit and moved on to the next slash-and-burn episode they advance their careers on. It's all about the numbers, and numbers don't have faces.
Back at home, those who pay the costs for those actions will get up and go on, like they always have. They will order their lives around one more wrong action that causes them inconvenience, at the least, and they will still get the job done.
A word came to mind during that meeting every time a producer spoke. It highlighted the way the meeting was conducted, and the way in which Van Mark was treated with respect, the way the producers conducted themselves and, in finality, the way the producers exited the meeting. That word was so alive in those people that it filled up the room and soothed the impact of yet another wrong - possibly - about to be done to them. It is a word that I will always associate with that meeting. A word less used now than it used to be and far too often not what we see in action. But with the group of people in that meeting, the room was thick with it.
That word is honor.
Gilette: Local mining company cited for polluting local wells.
A coal-bed methane company is accusing Cordero Mining Co. of illegally expanding its mining operations and contaminating several nearby wells, according to court documents.
Sheridan-based WYTEX Ventures sued Cordero Mining Co., a Delaware corporation, on April 25 in Campbell County District Court to try and win compensation for the coal company's affects on its gas production.
WYTEX court documents alleged that on June 27 Cordero gave workers 30 minutes to shut down and abandon four wells against prior agreements between the companies.
A surface use agreement signed before WYTEX took over the wells from another production company, states that the company's rights are "subject to and subordinate to the right of Cordero to continue to conduct surface coal mining operations on the leased lands."
Immigration protestors in Jackson Hole.
Calls for treatment over jail for meth users - from one of unlikeliest places in country.
I am sure that Torrington has concerned citizens regarding drug abuse - I have met them. The question is whether there is the concern that gets action plans implemented. Are businesses committed to having random meth/drug testing? Are we willing to report putrid smells (like cat urine or fingernail polish) that could indicate the presence of a meth lab? Do we report the person who buys large quantities of cold medicine with no apparent cold? Are we willing to use tax money to build long-term treatment facilities? Do our legislators know that we want to treat meth abuse and not just jail the abuser?
People are getting fed up with the Bush administration. From Iraq to local issues to the failed drug war to gas prices, the Bush administration trainwreck has hit close to home even in supposedly safe states like Wyoming. And Trauner bases his stances on the issues on the Constitution, not to any special interests or the Bush administration:
We the People of the United States, in Order to:* Form a more perfect Union
o Encourage voting and participation in the political process for all citizens, not just those of a certain party or race
o Remove discrimination against any identifiable group through legislation and, if need be, court enforcement
o Encourage tolerance of diversity and acceptance of differing views and lifestyles
o Ensure that all citizens have the ability to believe and worship in their own way, without forcing anyone to believe or worship in any specific way
* Establish Justice
o Ensure that we are a country that is respectful of the rule of law by setting up a system of public justice through courts and judges
o Fight corruption through reasonable regulatory oversight of our citizens and business enterprises, utilizing appropriate enforcement tools when necessary
* Insure domestic Tranquility and provide for the common defence
o Maintain a well-equipped, well-trained military that is superior in all aspects to the rest of the world
o Work with other countries
o Ensure that the National Guard is well-equipped and well trained and used primarily for domestic purposes, such as natural disasters and keeping the peace
o Protect and make secure our homeland
o Only go to war when it is absolutely necessary and as a last resort
o Ensure that all people are treated equally, regardless of race, creed, religion or lifestyle preference
* Promote the general Welfare, and
o Make policy based not solely on the narrow focus of corporate interests, but for the broader well-being of the people and our families
o Provide basic, quality health care for all citizens, irregardless of employment, age or economic status
o Provide quality educational opportunity for all children
o Ensure a level playing field for competitive enterprises through reasonable regulatory oversight and compliance
* Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity
o Ensure individual freedoms and freedom from government intrusion in our private lives
o Act in a fiscally responsible manner, properly funding government so as not to unduly burden our children and future generations
o Preserve our natural heritage and outdoor recreational opportunities for all Americans and future generations
o Pursue an energy policy that is sustainable for future generations, works for our national security and is balanced with preserving our natural heritage